There are, of course, disadvantages of having that much food in there. The most recent disadvantage that comes to mind is having to pull something out of the very bottom of the freezer:
I can jussssst reach the bottom if I stand on one foot and lean over into the chest. My latest freezer grab was a package of pork sausage. Way at the bottom. Because we're almost out. (Quiet sobbing)
Other obvious disadvantages are reliance on an uninterrupted power supply and the fact that we tend to occasionally lose items in there to freezer burn. Charlie and the chickens don't so much mind that as they have some mighty fine dining when a freezer burnt meal comes their way, but it's food that we could have eaten and money down the drain. And when the power does go out, we can only manage to go three days (depending on the ambient room temperature) without having to pull out the generator and power the freezer up. During the ice storm in 2009, we were without power for thirteen days. The generator wasn't used to run the well, provide hot water or keep us in electric lighting, but to keep our chest freezers operating. Of course, just weeks earlier we put a half steer and a hog in there.
Even though the freezer is still pretty much full now, it is not entirely filled with food items. When we take food items out, we replace it with a soda bottle filled with water. A full freezer operates more efficiently. And if the power were to go out, all those frozen soda bottles will keep the freezer colder for longer.
Deer season has already started here. Hopefully we'll fill our deer tags and have another hog sent to the butcher in the very near future so venison and bacon will soon replace those frozen bottles.
When I reach into the bottom of my freezer BOTH feet leave the ground. Which is why I never go in the freezer unless my hubbie is upstairs to pull me out if I can't SWING my body up and out. And people said those years on the uneven parallel bars would do me no good
ReplyDeleteThe frozen bottles is a neat trick. We also constantly lose stuff in the bottom of our chest freezer but the wife never forgets any part of the lambs that go in there.
ReplyDeleteI also have a small chest freezer for my bee keeping that I have to jealously guard so the Mrs. doesn't fill it up too.
You look like me digging down to the bottom of the freezer! LOL!! The water bottle thingy is a great idea and something I would have never thought of...
ReplyDeleteCarolyn,
ReplyDeleteWe us a food saver to pack all of our food to prevent freezer burn. I love the water in bottle trick, we do water in milk jugs. Doing this makes a world of difference with energy, plus you have automatic ice for keeping the freeze cold when the electric goes out. It's also great to use the containers of ice in colors when going camping or hunting.
I just hate having to dig when looking for specific food type items.
If you need extra room, I do have space in my freezer. I can't promise I would give you back the venison or pork (evil grin).
DeleteYep, another hassle we vertically challenged gals have to face! I tend to keep various things (different meats, fruits, veggies, etc.) in my chest freezer categorized in paper grocery bags so, if necessary, I can pull the whole bag out to get what I want. 'Course, there are the times when the paper bags will tear and destruct . . . lots of bad words spewing forth then. :o}
ReplyDeleteThat photo is hilarious! I only have a small chest freezer, which has it's good and bad points. Good, because it's easier to reach things. Bad, because there's never enough room.
ReplyDeleteI worry about power outages too and tend to try to can as much as I can. Actually, in my part of the country the freezer is a necessity for storing grains and flours; otherwise the pantry moths eat it all!